Openlandscapes: Glide through the snowy trails of Camp Sagawau
Unearth the wintery landscapes of Camp Sagawau and enjoy a one-of-a-kind cross-country ski experience. The 12-acre nature preserve is located 35 minutes from downtown Chicago in Lemont, Illinois and offers a variety of nature programs throughout the year. Individual access is restricted outside of tours and ski trails due to the rare native habitat in need of preservation. However, from the ski trail you can glimpse a view of the dolomite limestone canyon – estimated to be 100,000 years old and the only canyon in Cook County.
Read more: Openlandscapes: Glide through the snowy trails of Camp Sagawau
Openlands Lakeshore Preserve: Winter 2012 Updates
Winter has at last come to the Openlands Lakeshore Preserve, and the ravines and bluffs are slumbering underneath a blanket of snow. This time of year, the moods of the lake change moment to moment – sometimes fierce, with crashing waves and glacier-like ice covering the beach, and at other times calm and glassy. Some resident birds, such as the northern cardinal, remain all winter and if you observe carefully, you may see this lovely red bird flitting from tree to tree in Bartlett Ravine. It is also a great time to search for animal tracks in the snow – you might see where a white-tailed deer or coyote made its way across a trail just moments before you arrived.
Read more: Openlands Lakeshore Preserve: Winter 2012 Updates
Spring 2012 TreeKeepers classes begin March 3
With dwindling funding for tree planting and tree care at the federal, state and city levels, how can our region's urban forests be maintained and sustained? For more than 20 years, Openlands has been training volunteers to become TreeKeepers – volunteers focused on community forestry who are planting, maintaining and monitoring trees throughout the greater Chicago region. What sets the TreeKeepers program apart is the depth of the seven-class Treekeepers curriculum; the professional experts who are brought in to teach the classes; and the way our volunteers are empowered to lead projects in their own communities, as well as join in existing opportunities.
Action Alert: Help Save Starved Rock State Park
Please help Openlands in our urgent effort to protect Starved Rock State Park in LaSalle County, Illinois from harmful impacts from a proposed sand mine located adjacent to the eastern entrance of the park. Please contact Governor Quinn to voice your opposition to the sand mine, which was recently permitted by the County Board, and request his help to protect Starved Rock, one of Illinois' oldest and most ecologically and culturally significant state parks.
HomeGrown Chicago
The HomeGrown Chicago community food garden network, sponsored by Openlands, is a training program that focuses on fostering neighborhood groups to assess, plan for, and build long-term stewardship for community-managed green spaces.
Protecting the high-quality Kishwaukee River
This December, Openlands is adding almost 200 acres to its ongoing project to protect the high-quality Kishwaukee River through Boone County. The main stem headwaters of the Kishwaukee River start in McHenry County, close to the Wisconsin border. The river then flows west through Boone County, picking up several high-quality tributary streams, before joining the Rock River in Winnebago County. The Kishwaukee's South Branch runs through Kane and DeKalb counties and joins the main stem in Winnebago County just above the confluence with the Rock River. The Kishwaukee River is one of just a handful of rivers in the entire State of Illinois that have a "Class A" rating for aquatic quality.
Restoring a "biological treasure"
Orland Park resident and Cook County Forest Preserve site steward Pat Hayes is smitten with Openlands' ecological restoration work at McMahon Woods in Willow Springs, IL. She recounts "how beautiful the fall mist is on the ponds" as she recently came upon the site.
As a volunteer-expert who cares for the forest preserve's natural areas, she has reason to understand the significance of Openlands' work there. In a note to Linda Masters, Openlands ecologist, she shared that when Native Americans occupied this region, people could easily walk through the woods. The trees were widely spaced, the understory open, and the ground lush with wildflowers and grasses.
And if you dig a bit deeper, you'll find something very fragile and unique at McMahon Woods.
America's Great Outdoors highlights critical regional conservation and recreation projects
On October 31, the Department of the Interior highlighted important and innovative projects in Illinois and Indiana that are chosen for President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative. Openlands is pleased that the proposed Calumet Open Space Reserve, the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge and the Lake Michigan Water Trail are recognized as some of the country's most promising ways to reconnect Americans to the natural world. Openlands' important work on these projects embodies the same goals to conserve important lands and build recreation opportunities and economic growth for the surrounding communities.
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